by Robert Bradley

This history of mathematics … many historians would be tempted to say: "that's not history!" And it's probably even more likely that a mathematician would say: "that's not mathematics!" Whatever it is, and wherever it belongs in the pigeonholes of academia, the history of mathematics is alive and well at Adelphi, thanks in large part to the Pohle Colloquium.

The History of the History of Math Colloquium

The Frederick V. Pohle Colloquium on the History of Mathematics, hosted by the department of mathematics and computer science at Adelphi, usually meets on the first Wednesday of the month during the academic year. Since its inception in September of 1998, the Pohle Colloquium has brought almost three dozen mathematicians, historians and philosophers to Adelphi to share their research with a group consisting of members of the Adelphi community, and faculty members from nearby colleges and universities.

The colloquium is named for the late Frederick Valentine Pohle, former professor and chairman of mathematics at Adelphi University, who was an applied mathematician and an amateur historian of mathematics; 'amateur' in the true sense of the word, meaning 'one who loves.' Fred was a passionate student of the subject, he had an impressive collection of history of mathematics books, and he taught the one history of mathematics course that Adelphi offers.

I've been the colloquium coordinator in the department of mathematics and computer science since I first came to Adelphi. In the Fall of 1998, when I was also chairman, the idea came to me of having a regular series on the history of mathematics, which by then I counted as my primary field of research. The first speaker was my former doctoral student, Patricia Allaire, herself a historian of math, and now associate professor at CUNY Queensborough. Between Pat and myself, we found we had enough personal contacts to flesh out a full schedule of 5 talks for 1998-99. We needed a name for the series, and it seemed only appropriate that we name it after Fred Pohle. Thanks mostly to Pat's energy and organizational skills we've kept the colloquium going for five years now, averaging 7 presentations per year.

The Pohle Colloquium on the Web

Almost from the very beginning, we have had a web site to promote the colloquium and to keep our audience apprised of upcoming events. In the early days, our address was something like www.adelphi.edu/~bradley/yadda/yadda/yadda, but in January 2000 we secured the domain name www.pohlecolloquium.org, and now that's our little corner of cyberspace. We hope you'll visit us online.

An even bigger technological breakthrough took place in May of 2001, when we started videotaping the talks, making the digital video available on demand at our web site. We are extremely grateful to Adelphi's Faculty Center for Professional excellence for shooting the video, and to the Office of Information Technology for producing the digital files and making them available on the university's servers. Most of our talks since May '01 are available on the website, but a few speakers have chosen not to be taped, and we were also unable to shoot Professor Antonella Cupillari's presentation of March 2002, due to the campus-wide power failure that occurred that day.

If you would like to sample some of the offerings on the web site, let me recommend the talks of October and November 2002 as good starting points. Just look on the left hand side of the page, under the heading Video Archive. The first of these, by Ronald Calinger of the department of history at Catholic University in Washington, DC, is recommended for mathphobes. Ron gives an excellent talk about an important figure in the court of Frederick the Great of Prussia, who just happens to be a mathematician. There are no equations or geometric diagrams in Ron's talk, but there is a great deal to be learned about the Silesian Wars, the rise of the Berlin Academy of Science and Literature, and the place of academies in 18th century intellectual life. It's an example of what is often called 'externalist' history of mathematics. On the other hand, Homer White of the department of mathematics at Georgetown College spoke the next month about the same mathematician - Leonhard Euler - in a presentation that revels in the mathematical details and features plenty of diagrams. Homer's talk is a classic example of 'internalist' history of mathematics.

Thanks to our supporters

Although we've had speakers from as far afield as Berlin and San Bernardino, CA, most of our presenters are from universities within a few hours drive of New York City. Simply put, with seven or so speakers a year, we don't have the resources to fly people in from the four corners of the earth and put them up at expensive hotels. During the first couple of years, Pat and I frankly ran the operation on a shoestring, although we are extremely grateful for everything that the Dean has been able to commit to the department's budget for colloquia. In recent years, however, we've been the beneficiaries of some very generous support from a handful of professors emeritus of the department, who are also regular audience members. Thanks, Mike, Herb and Bob!

You're Invited

The Pohle Colloquium meets in October, November, December, February, March, April and May. Unless otherwise announced, the talks are at 4:00 on the first Wednesday of the month in Alumnae Hall, room 116. Coffee is served at 3:30. You can check out the schedule of coming talks at www.pohlecolloquium.org.